Torn Ligament

Article by John Willenbruch

What is a Torn Ligament?

A torn ligament in athletes is common and can occur at any joint. The knee and ankle are particularly vulnerable but this can be sport specific.  Active jobs and other activities, like dancing, can also make people more likely to tear ligaments.

Ligaments are sprained when the joint is stressed beyond its normal range. Common causes of a ligament injury include twisting or landing awkwardly. 

The most common torn ligaments are knee ligaments and ankle ligaments. This is because the leg is long and as such the twisting forces are increased around the joints. Because the joints are weight-bearing and the associated muscles are powerful also puts high stress with any change of direction during activity or sport.

A common ligament injury is an anterior cruciate ligament rupture. You can learn more about it here.

What is a Ligament?

Ligaments are short bands of tough, flexible tissue, made up of lots of individual fibres, which connect the bones of the body together. The function of a ligament is to provide a passive limit to the amount of movement between your bones. They are also heavily involved in a feedback mechanism called proprioception or joint postion sense, this is a key part of our balance reactions.

What are the Symptoms of a Torn Ligament?

Ligament injuries are normally related to trauma that overstresses the ligament to a point where the fibres of the ligament snap. This means it will have

• a single event cause. This could be as simple as falling off a curb but it won’t be gradually worsening.
• Sudden onset of pain and severe swelling.
• Subsequent joint instability. The joint may not feel unstable while you are incapacitated by the pain.
• Difficulty in performing your normal actions function. This is most commonly needing help to walk but could be at a higher level

What’s the Healing Time of a Torn Ligament ?

Treatment of a ligament injury varies depending on its location and severity. Minor sprains usually heal within a few weeks. Although activity will be returned in a few weeks the ligament won’t be fully strong until after six weeks. Resting from painful activity, icing the injury, and some anti-inflammatory medications are useful. Physiotherapy will help to hasten the healing process.

Your physiotherapist will guide your strengthening and joint range of motion exercises to return you to function quickly and help you to prevent a future re-injury.  Even if the ligament feels great it can be worth having a check up to prevent recurrence.

Larger sprains are more significant and disabling. These injuries require some support like crutches or a moon boot during the early healing phase. Depending on the torn ligament this may include the use of a weight-bearing brace or some supportive taping is common in early treatment. This helps to ease the pain and avoid stretching of the healing ligament. Your physiotherapist will help guide you. 

After a larger injury, you can usually gradually return to activity once the joint is stable and you have sufficient muscle strength and control. This may commonly take some time depending on your injury and what sport or activity you are wishing to resume.  Active physio helps prevent recurrence and speed the return to a pain-free lifestyle.

Physiotherapy is highly recommended for all ligament sprains to restore full post-injury function and prevent future instability that may predispose you to further injury.

A really big ligament injury is easily picked up by Pure Physio Albany and we might recommend the opinion from an Orthopaedic Surgeon to determine whether early surgical repair is required. We can organise that for you and smooth the process on its way. If surgery is required, your rehabilitation will be guided by your surgeon and physiotherapist.

Ligaments heal for the loads put upon them and so rehabilitation is applying loads to encourage healing while protecting from loads which will harm the ligament. Your rehabilitation will be slowly progressed as the repairing ligament gains strength to allow you to return to optimal activity.

Your optimal outcome will result from well-informed and specifically-guided physiotherapy. Very severe ligament injuries can take a long time to heal but be aware the earlier you start physio the sooner you’ll be fit again.

How Do You Strengthen Ligaments?

Ligaments are passive restraints that limit excessive joint (bone on bone) motion. Unlike muscles, there is no specific ligament strengthening exercise. Instead, your ligaments need to be stressed to remind them that they need to improve.

While you do need to protect ligaments during healing phases ligaments will naturally grow additional fibres as a response to your increased exercise load and functional demands. Keep up regular exercise and your ligaments will strengthen in response.

However, please remember that ligament injury occurs due to excessive or awkward forces placed on your joints, so avoiding ligament injury positions. Your physio will be able to explain what these positions are and how best to avoid them

It’s easy to get help from Pure Physio Albany?

Give us a call on 09 4481277 to sort an appointment or click here to book online we are located at Unit 4 Number 18, Airborne Road, Rosedale, Auckland 0632

About the Author: John Willenbruch has been a physiotherapist for over 20 years. He qualified from University of Hertfordshire in 1999. He rapidly found a passion for, and specialised in, the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries (sprains, strains, spinal pain etc.) John then did 4 years post graduate education at University of Brighton before emigrating to New Zealand. He can be contacted at Pure Physio by clicking here.